Blog Archives

I drove over to Grassland, Texas, the other day. I didn’t actually know there was such a place, or go there on purpose – it’s just that it was on the way to see that swing set I mentioned a few days ago (and which is now only two short days away from its blog debut!). Anyway, there’s not a whole lot in Grassland, Texas. There’s a wind farm nearby, though, which is probably going to make the future there look a lot different from the past.

Sometimes springs days end like this – with the storm (and rain) headed away from us, like this one was. But even when we know no rain’s coming to us, the drama of the clouds as they build and billow and reform is worth watching.

If you head north out of New Home, after you pass the school, the first road you come to is County Road 6. Take a right. Don’t worry – the road’s not paved, but it’s been ages since it rained, and that red dirt is as hard as pavement. This is what you are looking for: your map (page 44 in The Roads of Texas) has a tiny cross and the words “Mt. Zion” and you think it might be a cemetery. You are wrong: it’s this church, which doesn’t have a sign out front. Later, on your way back to the main roads, you’ll see this, which clears up a bit of the mystery:

No cemetery, but you haven’t wasted your trip down the dirt road. Not at all.

near New Home, Texas

(Also, while you are there, a man driving a diesel pickup will stop and say, “Howdy, ma’am. I’m a rancher, looking for some land to graze my cattle on. Do you know if the church owns this land over here?”)